The Diamondbacks’ offseason has been amongst the most grandiose for any team in the history of the game. The signings of Zack Greinke and Tyler Clippard along with the trades for Shelby Miller and Jean Segura have bought new talent to the roster, which in turn has bought high expectations to the team.
But not everyone is a fan of their moves.
Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron ranks two trades the Diamondbacks made amongst this offseason’s worst transactions. At No. 6 is the Jean Segura trade, where the Diamondbacks gave up Chase Anderson, Isan Diaz and Aaron Hill for Segura and pitcher Tyler Wagner.
“This deal involves a swap of a team trying to upgrade their stock of hitters by acquiring a guy who isn’t that good of a hitter, and giving up a pitcher I’d rather have in the process,” Cameron said in his article. “But the D’Backs upped the ante a bit on their version of this deal by also selling a quality young prospect in Isan Diaz… Unless Segura figures out how to hit for some power or gets his plate discipline back to an acceptable level, Arizona will have paid a high price to acquire a player who isn’t significantly better than either Nick Ahmed or Chris Owings.”
And coming in at No. 1 is the Shelby Miller trade, where the team traded last year’s first overall pick Dansby Swanson, star pitching prospect Aaron Blair and .303 hitter Ender Inciarte to the Braves for Miller.
“Miller is a quality pitcher, but the upgrade in the rotation only makes the team marginally better when you account for the downgrade in the outfield, leaving the organization in a position of surrendering two of their best assets for little actual gain,” Cameron said.
The Miller trade has received lukewarm reviews from both fans and people in the industry. It is abundantly clear that the Diamondbacks will need to contend in Miller’s three seasons of team control to justify this trade. If they do not and either Swanson, Blair or Inciarte becomes a star, this could go down as one of the worst trades ever made.